“Worship attendance and church engagement are nowhere near pre-COVID-19 levels. Maybe people are not re-engaging because they have established new rhythms and patterns while exiled from their sanctuaries. … This feels true, but I also wonder if people are hesitant to return because they are leery (or weary) of the divisiveness, debates and polarization that have seeped into every community gathering and invaded every dinner table.” (The Presbyterian Outlook, “Looking in the Lectionary,” by Terri Ott).
At Jackson Springs Presbyterian, we have a “Summer Sabbath” event the last Sunday of each month. Last evening, we gathered for a picnic at the Eagles Nest Berry Farm. Fewer people came out compared to other years, and only two little children were among us (so the Scavenger Hunt will be saved for another time!) , but delicious food and good conversation and a time of worship together was a blessing. Three baskets of the areas finest peaches were shared among those gathering, and peach and blueberry cobblers enjoyed! How wonderful it was to be together again at Summer Sabbath!
We’re reading from letters to the early church during the summer months, and these weeks find us in the book of Ephesians. In this letter, the author challenges his readers to make every effort to maintain their unity, reminding them that this unity in faith is the calling to which they have been called.
“The effort God calls us to, and reminds us of here in Ephesians, is constant and exhausting — the labor of living together, the labor of loving one another. But the effort leads to growth … As we live together in community, we encourage each other’s growth, but we must be engaged in community for this growth to occur. We must promote each other’s growth, engage in critical dialogue, and build each other up in love,” writes Ott.
Being engaged in community is challenging these days. We do more talking at each other, rather than with each other, and we fail to listen to others. It is as we speak the truth in love and as we listen to the truth spoken in love, that we will grow in faith and faithfulness.
Ephesians reminds us that love is the key to growth and maturity in community. “As we bear with one another in love, and as we speak the truth in love, the community grows in love … We may be a community divided by disagreement, but if we are Christ’s community, we are bound together by our ethic of love,”
writes Ott.
In Ephesians 1:18 we read: “May the eyes of your understanding be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of your calling.” The writer’s concern is that if the Ephesian Christians fail to stir up the hope of their calling, they will miss out on all God has planned for them, for the hope of their calling often takes second seat to personal choice and cultural values. Hope is a much-misunderstood word. For some, hope denotes a lack of certainty; often it’s mistaken for wishful thinking. We are told to put our hope in Christ.
How the church as the Body of Christ and we, as members of it, need to stir up the hope of our calling, by speaking the truth in love, by listening to the truth spoken in love, and by bearing with one another in love as together we grow and mature in faith and faithfulness.
Elizabeth
I’ve always had a fondness for rainy days that come on Monday! Such days are quiet and reflective, and it feels as though I’m resting in my life and looking out on the world around me. Today I was reminded of “A Mirror of Questions at the End of the Day.” The piece comes from a book that’s an old favorite: To Bless the Spaces Between Us, by Jack O’Donohue. In one season of my life, I turned to these questions at the end of each day:
What dreams did I create last night?
Where did my eyes linger today?
Where was I blind?
Where was I hurt without anyone noticing?
What did I learn today?
What did I read?
What new thoughts visited me?
What differences did I notice in those closest to me?
Whom did I neglect?
Where did I neglect myself?
What did I begin today that might endure?
How were my conversations?
What did I do today for the poor and the excluded?
Did I remember the dead today?
Where could I have exposed myself to the risk of something different?
Where did I allow myself to receive love?
With whom today did I feel most myself?
What reached me today?
How deep did it imprint?
Who saw me today?
What visitations had I from the past and from the future?
What did I avoid today?
From the evidence why was I given this day?
Reflecting on each day in this “mirror of questions” is a reminder that every day is a gift, to be received with joy and gratitude, and to be used well! I once read, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present.” So very true.
Elizabeth
My favorite devotional book through the years has been and continues to be L. B. Cowman’s Streams in the Desert. Today’s reading reminded me of the children’s message I shared on July 4, about the eagle, our national bird. While the eagle is a symbol of strength and vision for our nation, special messages of God’s love and care whisper through to encourage us on life’s journey.
In Cowman’s words: “The moment has come when you must jump from your perch of distrust, leaving the nest of supposed safety behind and trusting the wings of faith. You must be like a young bird beginning to test the air with its untried wings. At first you may feel as though you will fall to the earth. The fledgling may feel the same way, but it does not fall, for its wings provide support. Yet even if its wings do fail, one of its parents will sweep under it, rescuing it on strong wings. God will rescue you in the same way. Simply trust Him, for His “right hand sustains” Ps 18:35. You have His promise.”
In Psalm 91, we have that wonderful assurance of God’s protection: “You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust’ … He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.”
Isaiah 40 reminds us: “ … Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
With such faithful promises to sustain us, we journey through this life.
Thanks be to God!
Elizabeth